The second quarter of 2011 also showed an improvement on the previous quarter with a 40% increase in purchase and a 13% increase in remortgage instructions.
Despite the increase in remortgage activity, the Conveyancing Alliance believes this will unlikely to improve as dramatically in the second half of 2011.
It suggests that many more borrowers anticipated ongoing Base Rate rises at the start of the year which resulted in increased remortgage activity. With a diminished chance of a further rate rise in 2011 it now believes more borrowers will continue to stay put rather than look to remortgage.
Harpal Singh, managing director at the Conveyancing Alliance, said: “It has been a particularly satisfying start to the year in terms of both purchase and remortgage instructions.
“We can clearly see a pattern emerging of increased activity in the remortgage market over the past three quarters however we may well find that this improvement is not sustained at double-digit levels given that many more borrowers will now feel an increase in Bank Base Rate is less likely.
“Certainly, purchases remain the core of our business and we have seen ongoing increases in business levels here for some time. Anecdotally at least we are hearing from our estate agent customers that buy-to-let business is on the rise and this chimes well with recent pronouncements by the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
“We still believe that many more brokers, intermediaries and advisers could be benefiting by becoming active in the conveyancing sector and providing their clients with a quality service at a low cost.
“Regular broker users of our systems are bringing in significant levels of income and also ensuring that the client has no need to look elsewhere for any of these services. It makes perfect business sense and we are certainly able to help any firm looking to make the most of the conveyancing opportunity.”
